English Artist: Thomas Fall

A Smooth-Coated Brussels Griffon

English
circa 1920
by the Studio of Thomas Fall*
[signed obverse, lower left, "Fall"]

2 3/8 x 2 7/8 inches (sight)

watercolor on card, affixed to glass; housed in a brass frame

*Thomas Fall (1833-1900) was a photographer who operated a studio on London's Baker Street from 1867 until his death in 1900. For years, he snapped photos of London's most fashionable; but later in his career, he focused on the more lucrative fields of child and pet portraiture. Keen on providing his clients multiple copies of portraits taken, he also offered to have portrait miniatures painted from his original photographs. Such portrait miniatures would have been painted by any number of painters of the day, but their identify remained anonymous, as it was always Fall's signature that was affixed to paintings of his photographs. After Fall's death, his studio remained active and continued to operate under the Thomas Fall name for nearly a century, through a series of successors, until 1990. Surviving portrait miniatures bearing the Fall signature are rare, and typically go unrecognized.